Report on the implementation of the Nitrates Directive in Finland 2004

There are several factors that affect nitrate concentrations in natural waters. Firstly, sector of production (crop cultivation, animal husbandry), and short term and long term measures in agriculture affect the amount of nitrogen loading. In Finland the number of farms has declined significantly since the early 1990s.However, the area under cultivation has not been reduced. The portion of the farms with livestock went down by 10 % from 1995 to 2002. Studies on manure storage have shown that storages that are in use do not cause harmful environmental effects